Follow by Email

Thursday, October 26, 2017

If you have never been you should plan a trip even for a couple of days! Yes, it is expensive, SEMA and Las Vegas raise their rates three times the normal rates for this week - on everything! Hotels are expensive, cabs/uber, restaurants, etc and it is congested surrounding the Convention Center and the Strip. Just fore warning you about the expenses!

About 5% relate to diesels and the rest is gas performance, restoration, services, OEM, tires, wheels and electronics! However the show is so big you will see many new items and wild truck builds outside, it is a great show to view and walk.Also if you are a shop you should visit the AAPEX show just down the road at the Sands Convention Center, it is open Tuesday thru Thursday. AAPEX is mostly automotive OEM hard parts and liquids plus the bottom floor is all Asian imports. It is worth spending a half a day there or more.You normally walk about 7 or 8 miles a day so bring your comfy shoes, normal wear is dockers slacks and company shirt, polo or dress shirt. Bring plenty of business cards and register as a buyer if you want the vendors to talk to you. It can be too much for those who are not use to these type of shows, go online and find manufacturers you want to visit and plot out the daily walk through. You can view others by viewing on the way to your chosen few. It is beneficial to view new products and see what others are doing to their trucks. However most of the trucks are done for show to draw attention and not for everyday use like most diesel trucks in the Midwest. I hear all the time when shops go they really enjoyed it but then they voice it will be a while before they come back. You cannot buy direct because many of the manufacturers require pretty large buy-ins but they will tell you where to buy through distributors.It is still good to talk to them and find out information about their products so you can do a better job selling and installing their products. If you have never been it should be a trip to plan.

About Me

I have operated as a marketing/consulting agency for over 25 years in the automotive industry while located in Kansas City, MO.
In 2007 I started the National Association of Diesel Motorsports with Gene Mohney of PA. Since then we have grown the DIESEL Motorsport's Association to 4000 members along with putting on 12 National Diesel events and over 50 affiliate events Nationwide.